


Barely Enough

by Canaan



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Multi, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Stand Alone, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-02
Updated: 2012-12-23
Packaged: 2017-11-17 13:50:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/552237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canaan/pseuds/Canaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"There's nothing I'd do drunk that I wouldn't do sober. Including take advantage of you."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Едва достаточно](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12404334) by [TheLadyRo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLadyRo/pseuds/TheLadyRo)



> Written from an OT3 Olympics prompt: Rose walks in on the Doctor and Jack and is invited to join in.
> 
> Part two hasn't been written yet, but will be, at whatever pace I can manage between editing work and OF. Disclaimer: I don't own them and I'm not making any money. BR by Yamx.

_"Sometimes, too much to drink is barely enough."  
Mark Twain._

Life, Jack decided, was all about managing your expectations. If you didn't expect to save everyone, you were happy when you saved most of them. If you didn't expect to always have the best plan, then it wasn't a problem when someone else had a better one. If you didn't expect to go to bed with every gorgeous sapient you met, it didn't hurt your feelings when somebody turned you down. The Doctor had it right: when you lived for the adventure of seeing what lay around each new corner, and every day offered up new marvels, great and small.

Most of the time, it worked out. But after they failed to fix _anything_ on Scalador III, Jack needed a drink. The TARDIS kitchen had gone missing, but he knew he'd seen a bottle of Vlitlan flamefruit brandy in the library.

The library was right where he'd last seen it, and the brandy too, along with a set of four brandy snifters. He poured a double measure of brandy into one, considered adding more, and heard a deep sigh from the next room. Taking the bottle with him as well, he padded softly around a pair of heavy leather armchairs and a writing desk old-fashioned even in Rose's time and slipped through the archway into the darkened room beyond.

The curtains on the wall to Jack's right had been pulled back, exposing a view into the vastness of space. The universe looked into the TARDIS and the Doctor looked back, the glow of stars and nebulae making his features starker than usual. He didn't move. Didn't react as Jack approached him. Never even looked in Jack's direction.

Jack stopped beside him to look out on the stars. He let a good slug of brandy sear its way down his throat. After the day they'd had, he wondered why the Doctor chose this view. The longer he stared outside, the smaller Jack felt. He shivered and took another sip, but for once the strong liquor didn't seem to warm him.

The Doctor reached over and plucked the snifter from Jack's hand, drinking from it and handing it back before Jack could more than blink.

Jack shook his head and sipped again. "Really makes you remember how unimportant we are in the scope of things," he murmured.

The Doctor snorted and recaptured the glass. "The things that go on in those funny human heads of yours. You always surprise me." He drained the last of the pour.

Jack uncorked the bottle and held it up. After a moment's blank look, the Doctor nodded. This time, Jack filled the snifter almost to the brim and had a slug from the bottle before corking it again. He set it down on a side table. By the time he looked at the Doctor again, about a quarter of the brandy was gone. "I thought alcohol didn't affect Time Lords?"

The Doctor handed the pour off to him silently, waiting until Jack had drunk to answer. "Alcohol doesn't. Vlitlan flamefruit has some interesting properties. Nothing that affects humans."

Raising his eyebrows, Jack offered the glass back. The Doctor reached for it and paused, as if only then realizing what he was doing. "I told you to buy me a drink." He sounded amused.

Jack smiled faintly. "I didn't buy it. And you know I wouldn't hold it against you."

The Doctor took the brandy from him and drank. "I know."

A few minutes later, Jack asked, "So what _do_ you see when you look out there?"

"Stars. Nebulae. Galaxies. Wars that never happened. People that never existed." His voice was mild in that way Jack had learned to distrust. It was the voice that promised "harmless" and "irrelevant." That voice promised an interested bystander, easy to talk to, not threatening at all.

That voice was a liar.

"I'm here if you want to talk." Not that he expected the Doctor to take him up on that, but he had to offer. If the Doctor were talking at all, it would usually be to Rose...but he tried not to let her see the darker parts of himself.

Jack was familiar with darkness. He filled the glass again, feeling warm and nicely buzzed, but only touched it to his lips before offering it back. 

The Doctor paused, his hand in Jack's as he took the snifter. "Talk a lot, me. Best weapon in the universe, words. Add a little empathy, a little psychology. Who needs a gun?" He sounded almost bitter. "I don't feel like fighting right now." He leaned in close, his eyes dark with something Jack couldn't put his finger on. Sorrow? Rage? It wasn't lust, but it could have been desire.

His lips brushed Jack's. 

Jack drew a sharp breath in surprise, but kissed back: a light, dry kiss still trying to decide what it wanted to be. When the Doctor drew away, Jack kept his voice gentle. "Very nice. But I think you're drunk."

"Not yet. Working on it." The Doctor lifted the glass to his lips again.

Jack imagined the strong liquor slipping back along his teeth, caressing a tongue Jack would very much like to know better, and sliding like silk down his throat... 

"What about you?"

Tearing his gaze away, Jack swallowed and wished these pants (trousers, Rose insisted--pants were the underwear he wasn't wearing) weren't quite so tight, no matter how well they showed off his ass. _But what I wouldn't give to be that mouthful of brandy right now._ Belatedly, he remembered the question. "Me? Nah. Just enough to relax after the day we had." He grinned. "Besides, there's nothing I'd do drunk that I wouldn't do sober. Including take advantage of you."

A hint of humor warmed the blue ice of the Doctor's eyes. "You really think you could? Take advantage of me?"

Was it the warmth or the ice that made Jack's pulse quicken with desire? No, he'd never be able to force the Doctor to do anything, not with the dense muscle every casual touch made apparent. _But that's not the point. The point is, I don't want to push him to do anything he'd regret in the morning._

The Doctor's focus drifted back out over the starscape. "It's nothing you haven't offered before." The level of brandy in the snifter decreased steadily. "If I can just get drunk enough to stop being responsible. If you haven't changed your mind."

This...Jack had carefully never allowed himself to expect, no matter how many cheerful propositions he made, and the heat of desire began to spread through him. "Just this once?" His voice was barely above a whisper, as though he'd scare the Doctor off if he spoke too loudly. 

The Doctor shrugged. "Probably."

_Take it or leave it._ It was a peculiar sort of sweet that almost hurt, to know it couldn't be more than that. And when had Jack started to want more than that, anyway? A night had always been enough for him: long enough for pleasure, long enough to get lost in the joy of a partner, but not long enough to get trapped in love. 

That was it, of course. It was too late. He was already in love.

But the Doctor...was in love with Rose. Whether he admitted it or not.

Well, a bush in the hand and all that. Jack wouldn't turn down "just once." Especially not when the Doctor needed something Jack could give, even if it was only an evening's distraction. "Responsibility's overrated."

The corner of the Doctor's mouth twisted in a crooked little smile. "Thought you might see it that way."

Jack turned away from the starscape to the view he preferred, stepping in close to the Doctor. He captured the Doctor's hand along with the glass, bending his head to take a sip before claiming a kiss. The mouthful burned nicely beneath the dry sweetness of the flamefruit, and when the Doctor's lips parted and drank it from Jack's, the swipe of a cool tongue cutting through the alcohol was sweeter still. "Sit down," Jack murmured as he pulled away, nudging the Doctor back towards the sofa.

The Doctor hesitated, then sat, and Jack knelt in front of him. For once, that fierce, intense attention was all for Jack, piercing eyes watching him over the glass as Jack nudged his knees apart and laid his head briefly on one denim-clad thigh.

Another sip, and Jack rested his hand against the Doctor's fly, feeling an interested stirring. He stroked the heel of his hand firmly up along the zipper and savored the little catch of breath the touch drew from the Doctor. 

A moment's hesitation crossed the Doctor's face, but another swallow made it disappear.

It had surprised Jack at first that, as a sapient who didn't care where he traveled and seldom had a plan, the Doctor had such control needs. That was months ago, though, and Jack had learned better. Now he let the Doctor lower his own inhibitions while Jack undid the button and pulled down the zipper. The black shorts beneath fit closely enough Jack was sure the Doctor couldn't be that different from male humanoid norms. He traced the outline of a stiffening member with the tip of his tongue, wondering if it would be much different than a human penis, while he kept his hands resting lightly on the Doctor's hips, feeling them twitch and jerk at the touch.

"Anything special I should know about Time Lords?" he murmured, lips brushing the fabric. He felt, more than saw, the Doctor's headshake in response and took him at his word, hitching the stretchy shorts out and down to expose a cock not much different from the human range of normal. Jack licked along the underside, using the Doctor's movements under his hands and the changes in his breathing to note particularly sensitive spots. The foreskin was already pulling back, and Jack circled its edge tenderly before letting his tongue tease at the slit.

That finally wrung a low groan from the Doctor's throat, and Jack felt his own cock twitch in response. He wet his lips, carefully pushing them out beyond his teeth before sucking the head of the Doctor's cock into his mouth. The Doctor's free hand held the back of Jack's skull lightly, and Jack reveled in the hint of control as much as the weight of the Doctor's cock in his mouth. Part of him wanted to show off, to use every sophisticated technique he'd ever learned for giving head so that, even though it was only once, the Doctor would always remember it.

But Jack didn't want it to be about him. If he put that much of himself into this, he didn't know how he'd ever be able to go back to light, harmless flirting. 

He hollowed his cheeks for the pleasure of hearing the Doctor's light curse. Then he shifted his knees to change his angle a bit, testing the feel against the back of his throat. Not big enough to be a problem, Jack thought, but that was for later. He wanted some time to savor this before they got serious. He might get another chance tonight, or he might not.

He swirled his tongue around instead, teasing as well as sucking, and started to work the Doctor's jeans down.

***

It had taken Rose a while to make peace with the notion of the TARDIS as a person. Bad enough the ship got into her thoughts with the translation circuit. Worse that rooms weren't always where you last found them. The idea that the TARDIS moved them around on a whim? That had taken some adjusting to, but now that she had, it made the apparently random changes in the ship easier to accept.

They'd had an exceptionally bad day running around Scalador III. When Rose finished a long soak in the garden tub (which was actually in a garden) off the back of her bedroom, she expected her bedroom door would still be there. But it wasn't.

She leaned up against a coral strut, patted it affectionately, and asked, "Rough day for you, too?"

She didn't get an answer, of course, but the hum and pulse of the TARDIS sounded...sympathetic, somehow.

"I'm not really a fan of wandering around in my bathrobe, but I guess it could be worse. Is Himself brooding again?"

She started down what should have been a side corridor back toward the console room, but it turned and twisted crazily, leaving her lost. "Right, then," she said with a sigh. "You choose."

Keeping watch for familiar territory, she walked with one hand on the wall, trailing her fingers along the coral. Eventually, she passed the wardrobe room. Two left turns and flight of stairs put her in the library's open doorway. 

The TARDIS's version of a nightlight was a low glow, just enough to keep you from barking your shin on something. The Doctor's quiet voice sounded like he was muttering to himself, or maybe talking to the TARDIS, and Rose wondered what she'd say when she found him. _The TARDIS was worried about you?_ She passed around a pair of armchairs. She'd just invite him to share a cuppa. She was sure he wouldn't turn her-- 

She stopped dead in the archway at a strained moan from the room beyond. A window looked out on the stars outside, and the Doctor sat before it, but not facing it, his head tilted back. The light might be dim, but she thought his eyes were closed, and in front of him...

It could only have taken seconds for her brain to make sense of the scene, but it was so unexpected, it felt like eternity. That wasn't a chair or an ottoman on the floor in front of him, it was Jack. It was Jack with his face in the Doctor's naked lap, Jack with his head bobbing up and down, Jack making the Doctor make those noises.

She didn't know if she wanted to leave or watch. Didn't know if she was hurt or just surprised. Didn't know how long this had been going on. Didn't know if Jack's flirting with her had ever been serious, if the Doctor was gay, if she was hallucinating...

_If, if, if._ It didn't matter; it still changed everything.

As she stood there, frozen, waiting to something, the Doctor muttered Jack's name. Jack kind of hummed a response without stopping what he was doing, and the Doctor let his head fall to the back of the sofa with a soft _thunk_. "Jack, I'm going to..." His hips bucked hard under Jack's hands, and he gave a broken moan that was almost a sob when he came.

Fighting an absurd urge to laugh, Rose took one quiet step backward, and then another. They didn't need to know she'd been here. She'd just pretend it never happened till they said something, or if they didn't, she could catch Jack alone and ask him what was going on between the two of them. It wasn't like he had much in the way of personal boundaries to start with. 

She could never ask the Doctor, she'd die of embarrassment first. So of course, she'd just turned around when he said, "Rose, wait."

She hesitated.

"Don't go, Rose." Jack sounded far more concerned than the Doctor. Nearly desperate. "It's not serious. It's just--"

Was that supposed to make it better? "It's okay, Jack." She couldn't turn around. "I mean, no reason you shouldn't, and I'm sorry I walked in, I just took a wrong turn..."

"Stay," the Doctor said gently. "If you want, I mean."

He really was an alien. How could he not understand? It was hard enough to know that he actually _could_ feel about humans this way, or that at least he really did do this sometimes. Just not with her. Knowing that her life had started to revolve around him, but he didn't feel that way about her just made her ache. 

He went on. "Have a drink. Join us. We want you here."

She swallowed hard and bit back a sob. It was worse, somehow, that he was being so _nice_ about it. She heard footfalls on the carpet behind her, and if she didn't want to fight about this, she needed to start walking, but somehow, her feet wouldn't go.

The hands that settled on her shoulder were human-warm. "We love you, Rose," Jack said, and damn him, she thought he meant it. "If you don't want to be here, that's okay. We're being drunk and irresponsible tonight. We'll worry about tomorrow tomorrow, and I'm okay with that."

His arms slipped down hers, working their way around her ribs to hug her close. He was turned on--she could feel his hard-on pressing into her back. But he was being honest, and mostly, he was just Jack, and he was her friend, and he loved her, and that made it so hard to walk away. 

He whispered in her ear. "Come be drunk and irresponsible with us."

She bit her lip, wondering if she really could.

The Doctor murmured, "Please," but for some reason, it sounded an awful lot like _It also travels in time_.

***

_It's not supposed to be Rose._

Jack was one thing, an adult by the standards of his own place and time who'd made it perfectly clear that a roll in the hay was on offer. It wouldn't have been any more than that. Rose would never have known.

But now she knew, and it hurt her. The Doctor couldn't bear hurting her.

_It wasn't supposed to be Rose. Too many prejudices in her time. Used them to keep her away from Jack in the beginning--it's not fair to expect she'll get over them now._

It was a very small voice, far in the back of his mind, masked by the effects of the flamefruit. It didn't take much to silence it.

The Doctor rescued the empty brandy snifter and Jack filled it nearly full before handing it back. Jack took a swig from the bottle as the Doctor handed the glass to Rose, who had curled up in the corner of the sofa, blushing furiously while trying to pretend she wasn't. The brandy splashed a little as she reached for it, a drop spilling over the brim and onto her fever-warm hand. For a moment, the sight held him transfixed, some half-forgotten bit of verse or sacred pageantry coming to the forefront of his mind: _"Fill the cup. Fill the cup to overflowing. Fill the cup to overflowing, and share it. Fill the cup to overflowing and share it with someone you..."_

As Rose sipped cautiously, coughing a little, Jack had a slug straight from the bottle and then handed it off to the Doctor. 

The Doctor swallowed again, the burn of the alcohol pleasant beneath the slippery sweetness of the flamefruit, and capped the bottle, setting it aside.

He pulled Jack close for a kiss, catching a hint of his own semen beneath the brandy. Jack pushed the leather jacket down his arms, then dragged his jumper off over his head. It left the Doctor feeling curiously vulnerable. Which was foolish, since his trousers were long since down around his knees. He pushed to his feet, too recently spent for the pressure of his body against Jack's to distract him from the less carnal appreciation of that human-warm body against his. He stripped Jack of his T-shirt and ran his hands over the well-defined musculature Jack was so ridiculously proud of.

Rose made a small noise, and the Doctor looked without turning his head to make sure she was all right. Her lips were slightly parted as she watched them and her eyes large and dark. She was making inroads on the brandy.

He hoped she wouldn't regret this tomorrow. But, Rassilon, he couldn't be responsible for that right this minute. The weight of the universe might have settled onto him for lack of anywhere else to go, but just this moment, he had more immediate things to do. 

And people to do them with.

Jack didn't wear pants, which probably hadn't surprised anyone, ever. And he was more graceful at getting his shoes and trousers off than the Doctor, who forgot to unlace his boots first and fell back onto the sofa beside Rose, Jack's hands helping control his descent. "Bloody undignified," the Doctor muttered while Jack chuckled.

Rose laced her fingers through the Doctor's, and when he glanced at her, she was biting her lip, looking far too serious.

_Rassilon, don't look like that. I don't want to hurt you and I don't want you to go._

Large, warm hands wrapped around his and Rose's where they were clasped together. Jack had gone to his knees, and now he bent his head to kiss the back of each hand, first Rose's and then the Doctor's.

Rose drew a quick, sharp breath. The Doctor squeezed her hand.

Jack flashed her a grin. "Are you okay, beautiful?"

"It's still a bit odd." She looked down at her brandy, swirling it gently within the cup. "I suppose this is normal for you?"

A slow, lopsided smile touched Jack's lips. "The chance to make love to my two favorite people in the universe? I don't think I've ever been that lucky."

The words made the Doctor's hearts ache, as if a frozen sliver of tomorrow stabbed through them. He rescued Rose's drink as she leaned forward in search of Jack's lips.

***

Jack's lips burned like brandy and desire against her own, and Rose found herself opening her mouth eagerly, inviting the tongue that danced slowly with her own. Her nipples hardened so much they ached, and she whimpered softly.

The whole thing might be a bit odd, but she'd rather be here than anywhere else right now.

When she drew away, she found the Doctor drinking the last of the brandy from the snifter. "More?" he asked.

She felt warm and shrugged the robe down her shoulders, pulling her hand from his to hold the white cotton fabric in place over her breasts. The brandy was a sunset glow lighting her from within. She wanted to stay just like this, warm and happy, not silly drunk. "Maybe later." She blinked as he tucked the glass out of the way under the sofa. "Do you need help with your trousers? They don't seem to be going anywhere."

Jack laughed and plucked at the Doctor's boot laces.

The Doctor gave him a dirty look that ended when Jack got up and straddled his thighs. God, they were beautiful, the Doctor lean without the camouflaging jacket, his cock slowly stiffening again as Jack kissed him, long and fierce and oddly tender. If she and Jack had looked anything like this together, no wonder the Doctor hadn't gotten around to undressing.

Jack was Jack, all broad shoulders and well-defined muscles as he kissed, and entirely unselfconscious in his skin. His hips rocked slightly, rubbing the dark red tip of his hard-on against the Doctor's stomach. 

It shouldn't have been so hot.

When Jack slid back to the floor, the Doctor kicked off his boots. Jack caressed Rose's ankle as they watched the Doctor finish undressing, distracting her from what might otherwise have been an awkward moment.

"How do you keep ending up on the floor?" she asked, amused.

"The sofa's narrow." He managed to kiss the inside of her knee without taking his gaze off the Doctor.

She rolled her eyes and scooted closer to the Doctor, trying to ignore the way her bare knee bumped up against his. She patted the sofa on her other side. "Come up here."

He did, and she drew a long, shuddering breath. She hadn't known being sandwiched between them would feel like this, big and frightening and a little hot, all the attention of two tall men focused on her. She wanted the Doctor, and Jack was dead sexy, but this kind of thing didn't happen in real life.

Neither did traveling through space and time. Jack twisted around to kiss first her and then the Doctor. He put his arms around her beneath her breasts and pulled her half-into his lap, leaving her facing the Doctor.

The Doctor's eyes might be dark with desire, but he hesitated when he reached for her. And wasn't that their whole relationship in a nutshell? Every time things started to look serious, he backed away or got distracted.

Not this time. She grabbed his wrist and tugged him closer, kissing him lightly on the lips and then licking at them, nibbling when that didn't get her what she wanted. After a pause that might have been surprise, he let her in. 

He didn't quite taste human, but that was okay. She savored a difference less clearly defined than _sweet_ or _salty_ beneath the brandy while his tongue played along hers.

As they kissed, Jack swept her hair off the back of her neck, kissing his way from the top of her spine to the point of her jaw and then down the side of her neck. She shivered. Teeth pressed subtly into her flesh--not enough to hurt, just enough to feel. It wasn't anything she'd have expected to like, but pleasure whispered down her spine and she moaned into the Doctor's mouth.

Jack's hands settled on her shoulders, sliding along her skin till they encountered her robe, then easing it down her arms and off, leaving it to pool around her hips and thighs. One large, warm hand gave her breast an affectionate squeeze, and the Doctor cupped the other, drawing slow circles around the nipple with his thumb. She wasn't sure any longer whether it was the brandy making her head swim or whether it was just the two of them: her best mates, the ones she spent her life trusting as they ran from adventure to adventure.

"What do you want, Rose?" Jack murmured, his lips close to her ear.

She had one hand over his, encouraging him, and the other exploring the Doctor's lap, feeling nothing that didn't seem human and ready. But Jack hadn't had his yet, and she didn't know how this worked, how the three of them should balance so that no one felt left out... Her voice went dry and brittle in her throat.

"I know you want him more," Jack said. He kissed the crown of her head. "Go ahead." He nudged her forward.

There were no words in the English language, she thought, for how awkward she felt pressing the Doctor, who'd half-turned toward her, into the back of the sofa.

"We really shouldn't be doing this," he observed, but it didn't sound like an objection.

"Shut up." She braced herself on his shoulders as she knelt up and swung a leg over him. She hesitated. She was on the pill, but... "Do we need a condom?"

The look in his eyes was warm in a way she'd never seen and he circled her waist with his arms, resting his hands at the small of her back. "No."

There was no graceful way to do this. She had to reach between her own legs, wrapping her hand around his cock to steady it as she fitted herself against him and sank down. It was different because he was cooler, the same as he was when they held hands, but other than that...they just matched. She found herself sighing with pleasure and relief as he filled her.

They kissed, and Jack's hand coming to rest on her hip wasn't an intrusion. More like encouragement. She moved, and the Doctor rocked up to meet her, and she thought she could do this forever. It was pleasure, yeah, and closeness, with his arms around her and her nipples brushing his chest. But more than that, it was trust, and the smell of him, and the way his eyes sought hers whenever that weren't kissing.

Jack had been nibbling at the back of her neck and claiming the occasional kiss from each of them for a while before he said, "Rose, would you turn around for me?"

She didn't understand what he was asking, at first, and when she did...that was even more awkward. She had to get up, and the Doctor had to shift a bit to accommodate her as she settled onto him again. She couldn't get her knees under her this way and her legs splayed open around his, and she knew she was blushing bright red. But the Doctor moved inside of her and cupped her breasts in his hands, and suddenly everything was right in the universe.

And Jack... Jack knelt between their knees, nuzzling at their thighs, nipping and kissing. It was strange knowing he was paying attention to the Doctor as much as her, despite the fact that she'd walked in on the two of them. Mostly, she thought, what was strange was there being three going to bed together in the first place.

Then Jack's tongue slipped between her folds, and she stopped thinking much of anything at all.

God, it wasn't like Mickey'd never gone down on her, but it was nothing like this. Time slipped away in a haze of slick movements and gasps of pleasure while Jack brought her to completion twice before she felt the Doctor finally come. Her name in her ear was only a whisper, but she'd never heard anything sweeter, and then Jack's tongue pressed hard against her clit and she tumbled over the edge again.

As she gasped for breath, boneless in their arms, Rose decided she finally understood why Mills and Boon heroines were "shattered" by their release. It felt like her brain had exploded, and she had to find all the tiny pieces and put them back together before she could really think again. Which was probably why, when she opened her mouth, what came out was, "Oh my God."

Jack chuckled. "Music to my ears."

The Doctor managed "Hmm," and stroked her skin.

Rose stroked Jack's hair. "Still on the floor."

"Sofa's still narrow." He grinned.

She bit her lip. "What do _you_ want, Jack?"

He leaned his head against her thigh. "What I've always wanted. Both of you."

***

Rose's hesitation was clear, but there'd been lots of hesitations tonight. They didn't seem to be a reluctance, just inexperience. "How's that work, then?" she asked.

Jack smiled. "However we want it to. Do you need a rest?"

She shook her head. 

Capturing her hands in his, he tugged her gently down to the floor and kissed her. "Mind if we start without you, Doctor?"

Rose craned her head around so they could both see the Doctor. He had a small smile on his face, not his usual smirk or one of those darkly terrible "I'm thinking very hard about all the ways things are about to go pear-shaped" grins. Bending forward, he kissed each of them on the cheek.

That kiss, so chaste and unassuming compared to the ones that had come before, stole Jack's breath away. It wasn't about passion. It had nothing to do with need. But the affection and approval in it felt like everything Jack had ever wanted in this universe.

He barely heard the Doctor answer, "Course not."

They passed the bottle around again before Jack lay Rose down on her back on the carpet. The intensity of her gaze was almost unnerving, but then, it always was. She expected so much of him, in ways that had nothing to do with sex. What scared him more was that part of him liked it.

She smiled and murmured, "Come here," drawing her legs up and draping her hands around his neck.

There was so much he wanted to do to her, to both of them. Half of him wanted to slow down, to make this last as long as he could, but God he'd been waiting so long, and she was warm and aroused, the sweet curves of her body beckoning him. When she curled gentle fingers around his cock, teasing and stroking, the tenderness in her touch almost broke him.

Just once. Just once.

He eased into her, enjoying her sigh of pleasure almost as much as the heat and pressure enveloping his cock, making ecstasy ripple along his nerves. "You feel amazing."

She brushed her fingers back through his hair. "I know we're waiting, but--?"

A roll of his hips made the back half of her sentence disappear into a moan. He grinned, loving that he could do that to her. It was hard to keep it slow, hard to be patient, but he was wound so tight already--if he surrendered to need, it would all be over before the Doctor had a chance to recover. And maybe they'd have another chance tonight, or maybe they wouldn't.

Even if they did, he'd rather it were all three of them together.

By the time the Doctor settled to the floor next to them, Rose sounded as desperate as Jack felt. He was sure she'd marked him with her nails as she clutched at his shoulders, and he planned to enjoy those marks for as long as they lasted.

"How'd you want to do this, Jack?" the Doctor asked, quietly awkward.

Jack stilled. Beneath him, Rose made an inarticulate noise of protest and opened her eyes, turning her head to look at the Doctor. There might have been some turn of phrase he could use that was more persuasive, or which would sound less outrageous to Rose, but it eluded him. "Just fuck me. I mean, any other way you want is okay, but if I get to choose, just fuck me. Hard and fast."

A moment passed. "Let me get some oil from the kitchen."

"Kitchen's missing. There's still lube in my pants. I mean, trousers."

Rose made a strangled sound. He thought it was a laugh. "The kitchen's missing?"

"Why is that funny?"

She couldn't seem to answer him, so he ducked his head to kiss her instead of waiting any longer.

Everything might've been easier in a bed with lots of pillows, but Jack wasn't about to let that stop them. He put Rose's knees over his shoulders, which got him a surprised little squeak that became a groan of pleasure as he withdrew halfway and then pushed into her hard at the new angle.

It wasn't until he got his knees under him and spread them, and the Doctor knelt close behind him, that a tiny frown creased her face. "Won't that hurt?" she asked.

Right. Early twenty-first century girl. Anything but penis-in-vagina was probably a mystery to her. "Doesn't have to. The human body's..." He trailed off, losing his concentration as a cool, slick finger slipped between his cheeks, circling and rubbing and then finally pressing inside. "Flexible."

A lopsided smile had replaced her frown. "You are," she whispered.

He smiled in response, letting his eyes drift half-closed as he enjoyed the gentle penetration. "Mmm. _Could_ it hurt? Oh yeah, if you're new to it or inpatient or if you want it to."

"Why would you want it to?"

A second finger slid in beside the first, and Jack moaned his appreciation. Not just of being stretched, but of having, even just a little, this stupidly magnetic man he'd wanted since day one. He almost forgot to answer Rose's question. "Some of us like our pleasure with a sharper edge. A little pain adds spice."

"Does it?" the Doctor murmured.

Rose tilted her head for another kiss, and this time she nipped Jack's lower lip sharply. He made an approving noise. 

The Doctor's fingers curled into Jack's prostate, making him gasp and move with the sensation, which drew a corresponding whimper from Rose.

"Oh yeah," he breathed. "Hell yeah, that's how it's supposed to go. I'm ready, Doctor, I'm so ready."

"You're sure?" The Doctor's free hand came to rest on Jack's ribs, stroking gently.

Jack groaned in frustration and thrust into Rose again, who moaned and laced her fingers into his hair. God, he needed this. "What part of 'hard and fast'...?" He lost his train of thought as the Doctor withdrew his fingers, reduced to begging. "Please."

Jack stayed still in Rose's embrace as the Doctor's cock nudged up against his hole. Which was good, but those long fingers wrapping around his hips was even better, their grip a kind of firm that could overpower him, that could really possess him, that wasn't shy or uncertain and needed no additional prompting. Breathing deep, he only just managed not to push back, to wait until the Doctor was ready.

That sharp edge of pain Jack had wanted cut through him, his enjoyment driving him into Rose, who clinched reflexively around him as the Doctor's cock bumped and slid over his prostate. The Doctor pulled back a little way, pushing farther in each time--not quite as hard as Jack could have wished, but hard enough to be worth biting his lips. Hard enough Jack knew he'd been taken at his word, and could the Doctor have done that if it weren't for the brandy?

Could any of them do later, responsibly, what they were doing now?

When balls slapped against his ass and there was no further to go, a little laugh trickled from Jack's lips, made up of relief and delight. He opened his eyes, only then realizing that he'd closed them, to find Rose watching him from close range. She smiled and shifted her hips closer to his.

Hard and fast, then, letting the Doctor move all three of them, and all Jack could do was hang on, hold out as long as possible so he could enjoy this. But it wouldn't be long. Perfect fullness and a surge of pleasure each time the Doctor thrust into him, exquisite slick heat wrapped around his cock and Rose's womanly curves in his arms--if Jack died in that moment, he'd die blissfully happy and fulfilled.

It couldn't last forever, and it was Jack, who'd been waiting so long, who fell first, his hips pumping in ragged thrusts while Rose still strained against him. He should be doing something for her, but the angle was bad and he couldn't stop now and...

The orgasm coiled in waiting surged up his spine and everything went white. 

He'd remember later ( _the Doctor's fingers leaving bruises on his hips, Rose's hand between him and her, her raw cry of pleasure and the Doctor swearing in Jack's ear in some language he didn't understand_ ), but in that moment, there was nothing but ecstasy and the joy of being in the most perfect place in his own personal universe.

***

The Doctor was sure he ought to get up off the floor and...do something. Find his trousers, find his bed, try to forget how they'd looked at him--how they'd _both_ looked at him...

But getting up seemed like so much effort. Especially since the floor had gone remarkably bed-like in a way that meant the TARDIS was probably being helpful again. It shifted as Jack sat down behind him, a comfortable presence it would be far too easy to get used to. 

A warm orange glow outlining Rose's form drew the Doctor's attention. "Is that a fire?"

"The fireplace showed up while you were asleep, sometime after Rose closed the curtains." Jack spread a blanket over the three of them and lay down. "She said you weren't responsible for the whole universe, so you didn't need to be looking at it."

Jack pressed a kiss against the Doctor's neck and stroked a hand over his shoulder and arm. It came to rest between the Doctor's hearts. The Doctor smoothed a lock of Rose's hair behind her ear, then laid his hand tenderly over Jack's. "She was right."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part two. If you missed Part One (the sex), [it's here](http://canaan.dreamwidth.org/128288.html). Yamx is still your beta-reading goddess, and I still don't own our trio.

They'd made love again in the middle of the night. Rose wasn't sure she'd been entirely awake, but she'd been warm and content, giving and taking pleasure with the people she loved.

The next time she opened her eyes, the lighting level had come back up to what the TARDIS used during the daytime, and the Doctor was gone. A faint throb began behind her eyes. She should have expected the desertion--he didn't sleep nearly as much as she did, and he'd have got bored and gone off to tinker with the console--but it still hurt.

_It never was forever, Rose. Jack said it: drunk and irresponsible. How often do you think that's going to happen?_

But no matter how much she knew she was a fool for wanting more, she did. They were just good together, the three of them, and it was as true about sex as about everything else they did together.

God, she'd had sex with two men. At the same time. Did that make her horrible? Jack wouldn't think so, of course, and the Doctor was an alien--he'd long since driven home the lesson that morality was different for different species and even at different times. But she wouldn't want to tell her mum, who might slap her, or tell Rose her future children should at least know who their father was, or both. As if children were even a question. It was a one night stand, and she was on the pill.

She sat bolt upright, suddenly queasy. Beside her, Jack stirred in his sleep. They'd got back aboard the TARDIS after that awful mess on Scalador III, and the Doctor had put them into the Vortex. She'd skipped dinner in favor of chocolate from the stash she kept in her room and a hot bath. Or at least, she'd assumed it was dinner she was skipping. You never knew what time it was going to be on a planet in relation to TARDIS time, which made it hard to keep track of when she needed a pill in the first place...

She hadn't taken her pill.

Scrambling up from the floor, which squished like a bed for some reason, she shrugged back into her bathrobe, tying it tightly around her waist. Jack rolled over, mumbling something half-awake. She hadn't even _asked_ him about a condom, and she couldn't be here when he woke up, couldn't just not say anything, and _really_ couldn't talk about it. Her head throbbed, and she didn't know if it was the worry or a hangover.

Swallowing hard, she tiptoed out of the library and headed deeper into the TARDIS.

***

Jack came gradually awake, feeling well-rested and well-fucked in a way he'd been missing. God, he wouldn't mind going a few more rounds after he'd had a chance to clean his teeth and slap on a morning-after patch for the headache he was sure he'd have when he stood up.

He stretched, blinking his eyes open. No arrogant Time Lord beside him, of course. No Rose on his other side either. Damn. In the clear light of day, she might be having early 21st-century issues. Even if she'd decided just to pretend it never happened, Jack thought he should go talk to her. Because he was pretty sure neither of them wanted last night to be the only time.

If it were just the Doctor, he wouldn't even try. But...damn. Jack had just had this mind-blowing and intensely intimate encounter, and it hadn't just been about sex. If it had been just sex, he might have written it off. But those moments of intimacy--Rose's trust, the Doctor's whispered confidence in the middle of the night--Jack refused to let that go.

The two of them were in love, yeah. But he wasn't exactly innocent on that count himself. For Rose's sake, maybe he should push the two of them at each other--he'd have better odds of getting it to take. 

But he wanted this, dammit, he didn't care how selfish it was. They were _good_ together, the three of them. He wasn't gonna let that go, not if he could help it.

He got to his feet and went looking for someone to fight with.

***

The Doctor had slept a good six hours, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd done that. He left the others sleeping in the dimly-lit library and went to take a shower. As he stepped under the spray, the scent of Rose and Jack filling his nostrils began to dissipate.

He missed it.

Ridiculous. He liked traveling with people, but he wasn't supposed to _need_ them. Not when he was a Time Lord and they weren't. What kind of relationship was that, where he held all the power and they were caught up in his wake? It was entirely unfair.

He asked. They gave. The same for sex as anything else.

Only...it hadn't felt one-sided. Not with Jack and Rose confident enough to ask for what they wanted--or at least, each had asked what the other one wanted. Not later, in the middle of the night, going down on a half-awake Rose and then long, leisurely frotting with Jack while she watched sleepily. He'd wanted to give them both something that felt more about _them_ than it had earlier.

God, he wanted to do it all again.

Not just sex. The comfortable sleeping together in the same bed. Rose closing the curtains as though she could shut out the past--and maybe she had, at least for a bit. Jack's voice in his ear, muttering playfully dirty sweet nothings, lewd suggestions for some future repeat performance, with random thoughts about breakfast and other mundanities intruding as he drifted toward slumber.

He wanted that. Breakfast and kisses. Fish and chips and not being jealous of Jack licking the vinegar off Rose's fingers, because he knew he could do that too, as publicly or privately as they wanted. Dodging Rose's mum when they went back to Earth and joking with Jack about sharing the Oncoming Slap.

Rassilon, it was positively domestic.

He wasn't meant to do those things, wasn't even meant to want them. And yet, who'd decided how it was meant to go? They were dead, all of them, and as much as that still tore at him, it meant not one of them was around to frown or look at him askance, let alone drag his companions unwilling from his arms, like they had Zoe and Jamie.

It had been a long time since he'd let himself think about Jamie. They'd been happy together, the young old man the Doctor had been and the highlander who'd chosen a place at his side.

So why shouldn't he? Was it too much to ask, just now and again, to have something that made him happy? That made all of them happy? It would all end sometime, and they'd have to know that up front, but in the meantime, hadn't he spent enough energy being miserable? Keeping Jack at arms' length and trying to ignore Rose's feelings for them, let alone his for her?

By the time he'd had a snack and set about some rewiring underneath the console, his mind was made up. He'd tell them, and ask what they wanted, and as long as they wanted it, they'd find a way to go forward, the three of them. Somehow. It was a satisfying decision, and he felt terribly chuffed right up until the moment Jack walked into the console room and announced that Rose had vanished.

***

She knew they'd be looking for her eventually, when the Doctor was ready to go out. But since she didn't even know where she was, other than a sheltered hollow between two tree roots somewhere within the TARDIS, she figured she had at least until she heard the materialization engines to get her head together.

She shouldn't panic. She probably wasn't pregnant--it was the wrong time of the month, even if she hadn't used any birth control at all. Of course, that wasn't foolproof. Wrong time of the month was how her mother had ended up with Rose. Not that Mum hadn't wanted her, she just hadn't expected to get pregnant two weeks after her monthlies ended.

Not the best thing to think about just now. Not at all.

If she asked the Doctor, he'd probably take them somewhere she could get a pill. Probably anywhere there were humans, any time from her own on into the future. But she'd have to tell him why. And he'd feel awful and regret last night. Well, really, he might regret last night anyway. But he might think _she_ regretted it, and that wasn't true at all--she just wished she'd been more responsible about it.

It was so hard to think with her head pounding and her stomach churning. She breathed deeply, hoping the long, slow breaths flavored with the rich odor of wet earth would settle her stomach. God, how much brandy had she drunk, anyway?

But what if she never said anything and she was pregnant? When would she start to show? If she wanted not to stay pregnant, when did she have to do that? What would the Doctor say when he noticed--or more likely, when Jack noticed out loud, Jack being better at noticing people than the Doctor? 

She wrapped her arms around her unhappy stomach. If she was pregnant, no more brandy, that was for sure.

She wouldn't mind having a son or daughter of her own--someday. Even if she did it alone, things would work out somehow, and she knew Mum would help. But if she did it alone, it would mean life on the Powell Estate, more or less forever. There were worse fates, but God, she'd seen the universe, and there was so much left she wanted to do before she settled down. _If_ she settled down.

What if she had the baby in the TARDIS? _Talk about too domestic. The Doctor would pitch a fit. I wonder if I could hide it somehow, so he didn't notice until she was older. Women have been hiding pregnancies for ages. And heaven knows, he's oblivious enough sometimes, it might not take much._ It wasn't like there was a shortage of space on board the TARDIS--the tree she was sitting against was part of a forest growing in back of what she'd thought was just a storage cupboard. She could just stay mostly out of sight for the last few months--he was always threatening to leave them on the TARDIS if they weren't ready when he went out.

_And the Doctor would be just right for the daft uncle, if he wasn't willing to be a father._

A father. God, if she was going to keep the baby, Jack would have to know. After all, the Doctor had said they didn't need a condom--and he'd know better than she would. So the baby would be the other human's. And Jack wouldn't be expecting it either, whether he wanted to help raise it or not. 

Would he want to? They'd have to promise the Doctor they'd keep it out of his way. But they could take turns, each of them going out to keep the Doctor out of trouble while the other one stayed home with the baby.

If he didn't, of course, she'd be no worse off than before.

Jack would never stay on the Powell Estate, though. Cosmopolitan time traveler stuck on a council estate, with a really limited number of people he could shag without getting into a fight, let alone all at the same time? No, she just couldn't see it. She'd better plan on it being just her.

Maybe she could leave her daughter (or son, but so much easier just to pick one to think about it) with Mum once in a while and go off with the Doctor and Jack for an adventure here or there. 

Oh, who was she kidding? The way he drove, they might not turn up again till Rose was forty. It'd be like Peter Pan, with her all old and frumpy and dull and her daughter going off with them.

She'd never risk it.

Well, she'd wait as long as she could before she had to leave the TARDIS. Maybe the Doctor would adjust to the idea.

If not, she'd go home and get herself another job. It might not be an exciting life, but she was sure she could hold it together. And she'd be the living example of why you didn't leave school before you got your A-levels. 

The living green light filtering down to her felt suddenly gloomy. Her throat was thick and tight, and she wiped her eyes with a careful fingertip, which was stupid because she wasn't wearing makeup. It had all come off in the bath yesterday.

No, no, no. Enough of this feeling sorry for herself. So she'd had no job and no A-levels when she'd gone off with the Doctor. He'd given her a future she could never have imagined, and she _wouldn't_ give it up that easily. He wasn't good at saying no to her, not in the long run. Somehow, she'd have to convince him to keep her on board, even if he didn't want to be involved in raising a baby. 

It would be like the best kind of dream, though, bringing the baby up with the Doctor and Jack. They were so much her family already... So, that was some kind of a plan at least, even if she didn't know yet how she'd talk them into it.

***

The Doctor described what they were doing as "following a ball of string." Jack half-remembered some ancient Earth story about following a string, but he couldn't figure out what that had to do with walking the TARDIS corridors, apparently aimlessly.

The Doctor shrugged. "It means we'll get there. Eventually."

The silence was nerve-wracking. "Did we run her off, do you think?" Jack asked.

Instead of a taciturn grunt or a complaint about funny little ape brains, the Doctor shared an unhappy look with Jack. "Wouldn't think so. If we were going to do that, we'd have done it last night. Rassilon, one more reason I shouldn't have..."

"Don't start with that," Jack said sharply. "We're good together, and the sex was good, and you wanted that. All of it. And if you wanted it, but never came down off your mighty Time Lord pedestal to see how good we are, all you'd be doing is taking choices away. Yours, mine, hers. What the hell kind of adult relationship is that?"

The Doctor ran a hand through the short bristles of his hair. "I know, I know. I'm working on it, lad, I really am, but it's been better than four hundred years since I tried this kind of thing. Goin' to have to be patient with me."

It was so entirely not the response Jack expected that he stumbled over his own feet and almost fell. The Doctor caught his arm and pulled him upright. It left their faces close together, and the Doctor leaned forward to steal a kiss before Jack had recovered from the shock. 

"This kind of thing?" The words sounded stupid even as they left Jack's lips, but he had to know.

The Doctor sighed. "Some kind of partnership with a human. Something more than traveling companions, I mean."

"But you'll try?"

The Doctor didn't quite look at him, but he nodded.

Jack laughed a little, unexpectedly self-conscious. "I expected to have to argue you into it. You've been so good at pretending you didn't see her interest and ignoring mine."

The Doctor let him go. "Might have had to, some other time. It's not like this is easy. But you're right. We're good together, and I want to see where that goes. Maybe it won't work out, but maybe it will."

They started walking again. "So if we didn't run her off," Jack said, thinking aloud, "why would she have disappeared on us?"

"Any of the reasons people usually run away, I suppose. Fear, but not fear of what we did last night. Buying time to regroup or think of a new plan. Some need we don't know about, that she's actually running _toward_ , so it only looks like running away."

Jack shook his head, unable to think of anything that fit. "It sounds like you've put a lot of thought into this."

The Doctor huffed out a breath that might have been meant for a laugh. "Lots of practice running away, me."

Despite his worry, Jack felt his lips curving into a half-smile. "And when we find her? How do we talk her into...trying?"

The silence stretched out. Jack glanced slantwise at the serious expression on the Doctor's stark features. "No idea," the Doctor admitted.

***

When Rose heard Jack calling her name, she just about jumped out of her skin. Between the leftover adrenaline in her system and the way his voice turned the throbbing in her head into more of a stabbing feeling, she almost threw up. It took a few minutes to get that under control, and by then she could hear the Doctor calling as well.

Damn. She hadn't meant to worry them. She hadn't even thought about that. She swallowed hard and stuffed her fingers in her ears, for whatever good it would do, before calling back, "Over here."

When she took her fingers out of her ears, they weren't shouting anymore. She started walking back toward the door, and after a while, she could hear them coming through the brush. She stopped when she broke through into a clearing with a fairy ring of mushrooms tall enough to sit on. After checking to see that they didn't have tentacles or big pointy teeth, she sat down and waited. 

"Sorry," she said weakly as Jack came into sight, jogging through the last few yards of trees to hug her close. She swallowed again and gritted out, "Don't move me too much--I don't want to puke on you."

He eased away from her and she saw the Doctor sauntering up at his own pace. "I've got something for that," Jack said, solicitously keeping his voice low. He reached into his trouser pocket and came up with what looked like a funny-shaped sticking plaster. After the backing came off, he stuck it to her skin, just behind her ear. "It's not instant, but it'll start to help soon."

"Oh, good. Thanks."

The Doctor sat on the ground beside them and rested a hand on her knee. "Jack couldn't find you. Was worried we drove you off."

Right, because this whole time she'd been worrying about being pregnant, they'd been worrying about her. "God, now I feel selfish. No, it's just--I suddenly realized I hadn't taken my pill. I asked you about a condom, Doctor, but I never asked Jack."

Jack eased away from her, sitting back on his heels and clasping her hands in his own. "It's fine, sweetheart. You're fine. The Time Agency frowned on its agents bringing home anachronistic sexual diseases as souvenirs. Not to mention becoming your own grandpa. Contraceptive implant, and I've been vaccinated to hell and gone. No chance of babies without turning the implant off."

She slumped forward to rest her forehead on his shoulder. The Doctor's cool hand stroked the back of her neck. "It's not that you wouldn't make pretty babies, but God, I wouldn't want that without planning it. Not without everybody wanting it, and knowing I wouldn't get kicked off the TARDIS." She shivered.

"I would never--" The Doctor broke off, and when he started again, his voice was rueful. "Well, if I was angry and stupid enough, I might've said so. I could see how you'd think so, anyway. And I don't know if knocking about the universe with us would be good for anybody's kid. But let's talk about it if you ever want that. 'Cos I don't want you to leave. I want..." He cleared his throat. "You. Both of you."

She couldn't believe what she'd heard. She straightened up so she could see his face and make sure he wasn't having her on. "You do? Want me, I mean, us, like that-- Like we were last night? All three of us?" In all her worrying and planning, she'd never once thought it could be more than just one night. Her and Jack, maybe. Probably. Because it wasn't like they didn't love each other, and after that one time, if they couldn't have the bloke they both loved more, it seemed silly not at least have each other.

Her eyes flicked to Jack for a moment, and his hopeful look wasn't aimed at the Doctor. That one was for her. Like _she_ was the one he'd doubted.

The Doctor glanced away, then dragged his eyes back to them. "I wouldn't mind being happy with the two of you. For a while. For as long as it's good."

Rose swallowed. If she'd known all it took to get him to come around was one night of sex that was a little risqué by her standards and shared hangovers in the morning, she'd have suggested it months ago. But... "But...?"

He took one of her hands from Jack's grip, and then held Jack's in the other, drawing both up to kiss their knuckles. "What you've got to understand is that I'm going to live practically forever, if I don't meet with some misadventure not even a Time Lord can survive."

She'd already known he'd outlive her. The difference between, say, 900 more years and forever just didn't matter much when all she could expect was another fifty or sixty. "I do understand. I think Jack does, too."

The Doctor shook his head. "What it means is that at some point, the two of you will have to leave...or I've got to watch you die."

Okay. She hadn't thought about it quite like that. How could she promise to leave him some day? Or would he just close the TARDIS door on them somewhere and not come back? And could she live with knowing that?

Jack said, "Forever is a long time. I'm okay with worrying about that later."

The Doctor met Rose's eyes. "And you, Rose? I can't promise to watch you die." His voice was hollow, the way it had got when he'd told her his planet burned, and it was him her heart ached for, not some future version of herself. "I've stranded companions before because I couldn't, and they weren't even lovers, just good mates. I'll try to get you home, but I can't promise."

_What do you even say to that?_ She swallowed hard. "And someday, I might feel old and slow and not want to take my chances outrunning some new alien menace. I might stay home and let you fly away. Right now, it feels like it'd half-kill me, but anything could happen. Or we might fall out six months from now, and I leave. Or I could get killed on our very next trip, and it'll never matter. Almost got killed our first trip together, didn't I?" She realized she was babbling and forced herself to stop. "Let's take it one day at a time, see what happens."

Jack squeezed her hand. "Does that include me?"

She turned to look at him, surprised. "The Doctor said it did."

"I'm not asking him. I'm asking you." His expression stayed carefully blank.

For the first time, she realized that bold, confident, devil-may-care Jack was unsure of his welcome. Jack loved them both, probably had from the moment they brought him aboard the TARDIS. But he wasn't sure how _she_ felt about _him_. 

"I don't love you the same way we love him, Jack" she said slowly, feeling her way through the tangled mess of emotions aching in her chest. The moment of hurt in Jack's eyes made her press quickly onward. "But I think it's still love. And I don't want to do this without you. Can that be enough, while I'm still trying to figure things out? I don't want to leave you feeling like you're out in the cold. 'Cos you're not."

The hurt went out of him, and a smile spread across his face. "I'd like that."

She pulled him forward and kissed him, just lips on lips, since she hadn't brushed her teeth yet. Then she turned to the Doctor and gave him his kiss just the same. And when the Doctor leaned over to kiss Jack, for just that moment, she knew they could make this crazy thing work. Somehow.

The patch Jack had given her had started working, because she felt less sick and more desperately thirsty. If she could just drink enough water, she might even want to eat something. Maybe. "Breakfast?" she suggested. "Or at least tea?"

"Sounds good to me." Jack stood and offered her a hand up.

As the Doctor got to his feet, he said, "Jack, do you always carry lube in your trousers?"

A laugh bubbled up from somewhere deep inside Rose and sneaked out between her lips. She clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle it.

Jack grinned that big cheesy grin of his. "Of course. You never know what might...come up."


End file.
